Temporary closure for bung-holes and the like.



No. 797,733- PATENTED AUG. 22, 1905. A. HOERR & J. BOERSGHINGER. TEMPORARY CLOSURE FOR BUNG HOLES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2'1. 1904.

O H H 7 M, LN n m m w W WWW QM Du $3M UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

AUGUST HOERR AND JACOB BOERSGHINGER, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

TEMPORARY CLOSURE FOR BUNG-HOLES AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1905.

Application filed September 2'7, 1904:. Serial No. 226,204.

To all whmn it 711 101 concern:

Be it known that we, AUGUST Hormn and JAooB BonRsoHINenR, citizens of the United States, and residents of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Temporary Closures for Bung- Holes and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to temporary closures for the bung-holes of barrels, kegs, and the like containers and shipping-packages; and its novelty consists in the construction and adaptation of the parts, as will be more fully hereinafter pointed out.

It not infrequently happens, especially in the brewery trade, that occasions arise when it is desirable to close the bung-hole of a cask or barrel temporarily-for instance, when a beer-keg is being treated by the pitching process. It might be argued that a bung sharply driven in the hole to close it would amply suffice for the purpose; but it must be remembered that if the closure is but temporary it must be withdrawn readily as well as inserted easily.

The object of our invention is to provide a simple and eflicient temporary closure of the character described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partial elevation and longitudinal central section of a device embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the grips retracted away from the bushing, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts beneath the plane of the guide-plates.

In the drawings, 4 is a part of the wall of a barrel, keg, or similar receptacle, and 5 is a conical bushing made of iron or other suitable material, secured thereto to form the walls of a bung-hole 6.

7 is an upper plate of a piston, 8 being the lower plate, and 9 an intermediate packing of any suitable fabric or material. The plates 7 and 8 are of slightly smaller diameter than the packing 9, and the latter is intended to form a tight fit against the bushing 5. The bolt 10 is passed downward through the center of the plates 7 and 8 and the packing 9, upon which bolt, outside of the plates. are a suitable washer 11 and a nut 12, whereby the plates may be pressed toward each other for the purpose of extending the packing when desired.

13 13 indicate radial guide-plates which project at right angles from the outer plate 7, on opposite sides of the center thereof, each of said guide-plates being provided with laterally-projccting stop-pins 1a 14 at a short distance above the plate 7. The guide-plates may be secured to the plate 7 or made integral therewith, as may be desired.

15 indicates a piece of elastic metal bent to form two arms 16 16,which arms are provided at their ends with horizontal flanges 17 17. These flanges have their outer edges curved on substantially the same are as the inner surface of the conical bushing 5 and are radially slotted, as at 18 18, said slots extending a short distance into the arms 16, whereby said flanges embrace in said slots the guide-plates 13 above mentioned.

The tendency of the arms 16 is outward, so that when they are pressed together and slipped into position between the stop-pins 14, with the slots 18 in line with the guide-plates 13, this elasticity will cause the arms to move outward until they contact with the stop-pins M, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1.

In the operation of the device the packing and the plates are inserted into the conical bushing, being pressed together therein until the packing tightly [its the bushing, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, when the arms 16, which during the operation of insertion have been pressed toward each other sufliciently far to bring the outer edges of the flanges 17 within the conical bushing and out of contact with the inner surface thereof, are released, when their elasticity will cause the outer edges of said flanges to contact with the inner surface of the bushing and tightly grip the same, as shown in Fig. 2, thus firmly retaining the support in position until released by again pressing together the arms 16.

It will be observed from the foregoing that the flanges or grips are clearly pressed outward to the full limit permitted by the stops and that to insert the closure in the bushing it is only necessary for the operator to squeeze the two arms toward each other and press the closure into position. The removal of the squeezing pressure permits the elasticity of the arms to operate and causes the grip-flanges to automatically engage the inner surface of the bushing.

What we claim is- 1. A temporary closure for the bung-holes of barrels and the like comprising a piston adapted to fit into the bung-hole, grips movably attached to the piston and adapted to engage the inner walls of the bung-hole, and a piece of spring metal bent upon itself to form both a handle and spring-arms to carry and actuate said grips.

2. A temporary closure for the bung-holes of barrels and the like, comprising a piston adapted to occupy a portion only of the depth of the bung-hole, a pair of spring-arms carried by the piston and projecting outward therefrom, and horizontal flanges on the ends of said arms adapted to be located in the bunghole and to engage the inside of the side Walls of the hole to hold the piston in place therein.

3. A temporary closure for the bung-holes of barrels and the like, comprising a piston consisting of clamping-plates and an intermediate soft packing, radial guide-plates projecting from one of the piston-plates, horizontal flanges straddling said guide-plates,

AUGUST HOERR. JACOB BOERSGHINGER.

Nitn esses:

S. HOFFMANN, GUSTAVE F. J. AMTI-IOR. 

